Iowa Supreme Court upholds ruling against Worth County ordinance

The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s ruling and voided Worth County’s health-based large-scale animal confinement ordinance. Second District Judge Stephen Carroll ruled back in February 2003 that the county’s ordinance regulating air & water quality as well as worker safety is pre-empted by state law. The county appealed to the higher court, claiming the state law regulating livestock production is contrary to the home-rule amendment to the state constitution and is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s decision in an opinion handed down earlier today (Wednesday), saying the state laws governing livestock confinements are not unconstitutional. Plaintiffs in the case against the county included the Worth County Friends of Agriculture, Worth County Farm Bureau, and individual farmers.